The 34th National Congress of the Portuguese Association of Travel Agencies (APAVT) continued today in Macau with a debate on the new image campaign “Portugal, Europe’s West Coast” in the morning and the afternoon was reserved to discuss the challenges faced by the air transportation industry. Former President of Portugal, Dr. Jorge Sampaio, the invited keynote speaker for the morning panel, opened the session under the topic of Portugal’s new image branding. Sampaio gave his opinion on what it takes to build a successful country branding. He highlighted how important image building is to correct misperceptions and convey values of a country or region. Sampaio also pointed out the need fOR coordination of efforts between the public and private sectors for a successful result. Sampaio’s keynote was followed by a presentation on Portugal’s new image promotional campaign “Portugal, Europe’s West Coast”, by BBDO Portugal vice-president, Pedro Bidarra, the company which created the campaign. A debate on Portugal’s branding as a tourism destination followed the presentations. The discussion was joined by the Chairman of Turismo de Portugal, Luís Patrão, administrator of MM&Company, David Marks, chief executive officer of TUI Event Management Portugal, Duarte Correia, former Portugal Minister for Tourism, Telmo Correia, and former Portuguese Secretary of State for Tourism, Vítor Neto. Well-known Portuguese journalist Sérgio Figueiredo moderated the debate. The working session in the afternoon discussed the topic “Air Transportation: Realities and Challenges”. Former Portuguese Secretary of State and TAP representative in Air Macau Luís Correia da Silva was the key speaker of the session. He spoke in detail about the challenges that airlines face in the leisure travel segment under the current recession scenery. Afterwards, Correia da Silva joined a debate which had among its participants Aer Lingus sales manager, Aisling Lyons, Galileo Portugal chief executive officer, António Loureiro, SATA chief executive officer, António Menezes, ANA chief executive officer, Guilhermino Rodrigues and TAP vice-president, Luiz Mór. The discussion was moderated by Top Atlântico Madeira administrator, João Welsh. The five-day long event, which opened on Sunday, closes this coming Thursday. The hosting of the APAVT Congress in Macau reinforces MGTO’s promotional strategy to show the new Macau to Portuguese tour operators, and attract more visitors from Portugal to Macau, especially for the celebrations next year of the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Macau SAR. Macau has also been invited to be the “International Guest Destination” at the Lisbon Travel Market 2009 to be held next January. The National Congress of APAVT is a main highlight in the annual agenda of the Portuguese tourism industry. APAVT is the most representative association of Portuguese tourism, and since its foundation in 1950, has played a fundamental role in the development of tourism in Portugal. This is the fourth time that APAVT has chosen Macau to host its annual national congress, after 1982, 1990 and 1996, and the first after the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region.
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